To Err is Human
by Ceara Ivory
Summary: Many say that when someone wrongs you, you’re supposed to forgive them. Well that’s all well and good, but is it prudent. Or so Harry ponders when he’s abandoned by his friends, blamed for a crime he did not commit and sent to Azkaban.
1. Chapter 1

To Err is Human, To Forgive Divine, but Trust Honored Above All

Written by Chibikan

Summary: Many say that when someone wrongs you, you're supposed to forgive them. Well that's all well and good, but is it prudent. Or so Harry ponders when he's abandoned by his friends, blamed for a crime he did not commit and sent to Azkaban. Some wrongs cannot be forgiven so easily. And when trust is broken by those you care about most, you might begin to trust someone that you've always hated before. Especially when you discover that the two of you have more to share.

Prologue:

_To my Friends:_

_Trust is something that once broken is almost impossible to piece back together again. It's not merely some puzzle you pull out of box and put together, following the picture provided. You can't take a tube of super glue and put the pieces back where they belong. It doesn't work that way. _

_Trust is rarely earned from the beginning. Trust is given you by the people you encounter. But when you break that trust, it is rare that you can acquire it again._

_I have received your many letters asking me for forgiveness. Well, that you have, if only because well, only because I don't need that chip on my shoulders. But you will never have my trust again._

_How can I trust any of you again, when you never really trusted me._

_Signed_

_Harry Potter_

AN: Yes, a new story, and a confusing prologue to set it up. Hope you enjoy.


	2. Chapter 2

To Err is Human, to Forgive Divine, but Trust Honored Above All

Written by Chibikan

Chapter 1

Harry was bidding goodbye to his friends as they left the station. His uncle was late for God knows why. Oh well, the longer it took him to get there the longer he had until he was thrust back into their lives. Heaven knew that they hated him, and only Heaven knew the hell he truly went through there. Yes, he would savor the wait as long as he could.

Suddenly the sound of apparition brought him to his feet. He looked around, drawing his wand.

"So, little Baby Potter is all alone?" came the cackle of Bellatrix Lestrange in complete death eater garb.

Harry spun around to his left. This woman was stupid, attacking him in an area full of muggles. Of course the muggles just went about pretending they saw nothing, as muggles often did when they didn't want to get involved. "You……" He raised his wand hoping to get off a stunner before she could get one off a spell herself.

But something seemed wrong. Both seemed to notice it. Their attentions were drawn to a person handing off a finely wrapped package.

"You know what?" Bella began. "I think I'll catch up with you later." A crack later and she was gone.

Milliseconds later a loud explosion rang from around Harry. He looked towards the explosion to see a rush of flame engulfing the muggles around him. Without thinking he cast a protego spell around himself. But while the shield was enough to keep the flames from incinerating him the backlash threw Harry into a brick barrier knocking him unconscious to the ground.

Several hours later Harry awoke….in a small, dank, odorous, cell. The most horrible creatures passed by him, tearing away every good feeling he knew. And he realized, like someone pouring a bucket of ice cold water on him, just where he was, Azkaban.

Meanwhile in the ministry…

"That's right Dumbledore, we found your golden boy at the scene of the crime, with almost fifty muggles dead around him. He had his wand out and after a priori incantatem found it was Potter who cast the curse." Fudge told Dumbledore who stood over his desk.

Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry shook with despair. It couldn't be, Harry would never betray them. He would never attack muggles. But the aurors around him confirmed Fudge's story. He had to admit that it was true. There would be no need for veritaserum. He said nothing, not wanting to give Fudge satisfaction at having been right about Harry. Apparently the boy was unstable and felt such a deep unseated hate at his muggle relatives that it had turned him into another Voldemort.

And so Harry sat. He had no idea that his only hope had believed whatever it was that Fudge had told him. He sat for six weeks, not knowing that as soon as they had heard, his friends had begun to hate him, even his father's old friend, Remus Lupin. He sat for six weeks enduring things that not even the strongest wizard on Earth could withstand. He was certain he would go insane if not worse if no one came for him.

However, insanity nor death was in his future. For someone else had heard of the circumstances, the one person who knew for sure that he was innocent. And he was about to find out just ironic life could be.

AN: Another short chappie. Yes I know Harry has only been in Azkaban for a very short time, but to me 6 weeks would be pushing it for a kid who's already lost almost everything. I needed it to be a short enough time so that Harry might still have a little bit of innocence in him. Can you guess who will come to Harry's rescue?

COMING SOON: Irony is as irony does, and though Harry has nearly lost all hope, there is one who would see him delivered of that hell.


	3. Chapter 3

To Err is Human, to Forgive Divine, but Trust Honored Above All

Written by Chibikan

Chapter 2:

Harry was sitting on the stone cold cot in the prison, shaking from the last dementor visit. He was trying to keep the smallest bit of hope inside him. Long ago he had discovered that hope belonged to him and that no creature, however they may try, could take it away if he really desired to keep it. He remembered a song from a movie he'd watched through his cupboard when the Dursley's weren't aware.

"Come on Harry," He pep talked himself. "Never say never, if you give up hope you'll never get out of here, so never say never." He began humming to himself the song to keep the awful chill of the dementors off of him.

"That's right boy," a familiar voice snapped into his reverie.

Harry stood up and backed to the farthest wall as a snaky-man, cloaked in black, with frightening red eyes appeared, having obviously conquered the apparition barriers. "You, what are you doing here?"

"I always knew you were made of stronger stuff than the ministry claimed." The Dark Lord told him. "It's good to see, you know, less shameful to have lost to you so many times you know." He smirked and looked at Harry closely. His mouth was hanging open in fear and eyes wider than silver dollars. "Close your mouth, boy, it is bad manners."

"Answer my question…..what are you doing here?" Harry recovered and stifled his fear, and entered into a muggle-fighting stance, after all he had no wand with which to fight.

Voldemort laughed in amusement. "I have heard of your predicament, and I have come to get you out of here."

Not moving from his position Harry asked him. "Why?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe because in my infinite insanity I thought perhaps this wasn't the proper place for one of the world's most powerful wizards. I also thought perhaps you did not like it here and would wish to leave as soon as possible. Was I wrong? Because if I was, I'll leave, far be it for me to tamper with your desires." The snake-man replied sarcastically.

"No, I mean, why do you want to help me! Don't give me that 'I just want to be nice' crap because you don't have a nice bone in your body."

"Well, then I won't say that. I will say that this incident has shown me a few things. And I think you should join with me." Voldemort stated as if it were the most obvious solution.

Harry shook his head. "Now why would I go and do something like that? I'm not quite that insane yet."

"Because I am your only hope for leaving this place. And because at the moment I am the only one you can trust."

"Liar! Dumbledore'll come for me! And if not him then Sirius, or one of my friends. They'll come." He insisted.

Voldemort laughed again. This time with a pity-filled tone. "Oh, you poor little delusional child, what have they done to you? They've got you leaning on every word of promise they ever gave you, even when you've been here for six weeks. And even when you know that if Dumbledore had any intention on rescuing, he would have been here within an hour of learning you were here." Voldemort came and petted the boy's hair.

Harry pulled away, shuddering from the cold touch. "Stop that! I'm not a child, and I'm not delusional. They'll come." Although, at the moment, he was saying more to convince himself. "They'll come. They'll rescue me, they know I wasn't responsible! That I'm innocent."

Voldemort sighed. "I can see you're going to be stubborn. Listen, boy, it'll be much easier to accept it if you just stop lying to yourself now. Your "friends" have abandoned you. To them, you are nothing more than a figure head to lead the battle. They'll use you then dump you! And that's just what they've done." He wasn't exactly lying. He'd been through the same thing with the same type of so called friends. "So open your eyes boy! Open your eyes!"

Harry shook his head in denial, trying to fight angry tears. He didn't want to show any sort of weakness. "And what makes you the only one I can trust huh? How do I know you're not just lying to me, to get me on your side."

"Because our situations are the same. We've always been in the same boat, Potter. The only difference is that you were raised in a real home, and I in an orphanage. We've both been abused as children and as adults. Neither of us ever had friends until Hogwarts. Both of us were sent back to places we didn't want to go at the end of the school year. And both of us were sent there by the same man who thought to keep us isolated from the rest of the wizarding world. The only reason we're always at each other's throats is because of that one man! The same man who has abandoned you to a lifetime in this hell. Now, I can get you out of here. All you have to do is take it. We'd be better as allies then as enemies and you know it."

Harry looked away and thought. He was right, their lives were parallel from each others. Voldemort had always been honest with him, he never doubted once how the man felt about him. He had always been the one constant in Harry's life. And maybe, although the rest of his friends didn't deserve it, maybe he could protect them this way. "Well, can you give me your word that you'll leave their fates to me. Ron's, Hermione's, Sirius', and the rest of my friends. You can have Dumbledore, but swear that you'll let me decide the fate of my other friends."

Voldemort smirked. "And here I'd thought you'd have a foolish condition such as end the war. If that is your only condition, you have it as well as a promise that you will never feel pain from me. We shall be equals boy, you at my left side. Is it a deal?" He offered a skeletal hand to the child, also promising to himself that the boy would also see many many meals in future, he was far too thin. Nagini would like that challenge.

Harry considered again. Was it worth it? Could he really betray his parents? But then was he really? Who had betrayed who here? He had wanted to defeat Voldemort for their sakes, but surely they would understand his situation. Finally after many moments of deliberation he began to put out his hand to take the proffered one. He hesitated twice, no three times before setting the hand inside the pale palm of the Dark Lord. It was a deal. And with another smirk from said Dark Lord, the two of them vanished from Azkaban.

AN: Yes, another chapter in one day. I hope you enjoy this. I enjoyed writing it.

Coming Soon: Harry's innocence is found out but is it too late to save him from the Dark Side?


End file.
